gluten-free

This post is part of a compensated campaign with McCormick Spices. All opinions and the recipe here are my own.

Roasted jalapeño hummus is a quick, easy, healthy snack you can make at home in about 15 minutes.

While this might look like any old regular hummus, the roasted jalapeño, garlic and cumin give it a mellowed, spicy kick for a different flavor than traditional, plain hummus. This anything-but-typical dip is great served with pita bread, pita chips, or tortilla. chips. And in 2015, this snack — which is a fusion of Middle Eastern and Mexican flavors — is actually trendy! Middle Eastern dips and spreads are one of the global food trends in this year’s Flavor Forecast from McCormick Spices.

It’s quite easy to work most of these trends into your daily cooking routines, but I challenge you to try to incorporate at least one trend per week. Chances are, if you’re a Mexican food enthusiast, you may already be cooking according to some of these trends — in which case, congratulations for being accidentally cool!

Roasted chickpeas (also known in Spanish as garbanzos) with Tajín, lime juice and cumin is an easy, healthy snack that’s also naturally gluten-free and vegan-friendly.

This is a great alternative to mixed nuts because the roasted chickpeas are crunchy, tangy, salty and have less than half the fat per cup. One cup of oil-roasted mixed nuts has about 72 grams of fat, while oil-roasted chickpeas have only about 31 grams of fat (which comes almost completely from the oil)….

Growing up in the Midwest, I went apple picking every fall and loved to drink mulled hot apple cider. Although apple cider the way I grew up drinking it is really not consumed in Mexico, I came up with this recipe with the traditional American apple cider in mind; it’s made with apples that are easily found in Mexico along with Mexican cinnamon sticks, chile puya for a little kick, and sweetened with piloncillo — all ingredients that are muy mexicano.

Chile puya brings an earthy, fruity, moderate heat to this mulled hot apple cider that can be served with a splash of brandy on cold winter nights. It’s the perfect warm cocktail to serve during the holidays as well!

Chile puya looks just like a smaller version of chile guajillo, both in color and shape, but is spicier. If you can’t find chile puya, or want a milder spice, you can substitute a guajillo chile in this recipe. I advise that you start out with one chile and work your way up if you think it needs to be spicier. Either way, be sure to remove the seeds and veins inside the chiles….

This post is part of a compensated campaign with Maseca, but all opinions and the recipe here are my own.

Crema de elote, also sometimes known as crema de maíz, is a cream of corn soup commonly served in Mexico. This version is garnished with roasted corn, diced poblano chile and crema Mexicana.

It’s a hearty soup that can serve as a meal on its own, or can be divided into four portions for an appetizer or small first course. Perfect for cold winter days, crema de elote will stick to your ribs and keep your belly full. This soup is thickened with whole milk and Maseca instant corn flour. Many crema de elote recipes call for butter or oil, but in an effort to be healthier, this one does not. Many other recipes also include a clove of garlic (sometimes roasted to mellow it out a bit), but I really prefer this soup without garlic so the sweetness of the corn can shine through. The diced poblano chile as a garnish gives it just a little bit of heat, and the optional sprinkle of crumbled queso cotija lends a a salty bite to complement the sweet corn.

This post is part of a compensated campaign with Maseca, but all opinions and the recipe here are my own.

Atole de calabaza is a masa-based beverage made with milk, thickened with Maseca corn flour, and served hot. This pumpkin-flavored version tastes similar to pumpkin pie and is perfect for serving around Thanksgiving.

Although vanilla, chocolate (called champurrado) and strawberry are the most common atole flavors, there are many other common flavors such as pumpkin, or modern, non-traditional flavors such as blueberry cardamom atole. I love to serve this pumpkin atole with conchas (a type of pan dulce, pictured above).

Thanksgiving is right around the corner and pumpkin pie is always a staple in my house at this time of year. As a kid, I always used to want to drink the leftover pumpkin pie filling, which my mom would warn me against doing since it contains raw eggs. I’d manage to drink some anyway and usually everything was fine, but occasionally, I’d end up with a stomachache. This atole tastes very similar to pumpkin pie filling thanks to the creaminess from the evaporated milk and has no risk from the eggs like pumpkin pie filling. What more could I ask for? It’s the perfect breakfast or dessert when served with some pan dulce!…

This post is part of a compensated campaign with Maseca, but all opinions and the recipe here are my own.

Atole de vainilla is a traditional masa-based beverage, often made with milk, and served hot. This hot beverage goes great with tamales, pastries or pan dulce and is also most popular around Day of the Dead and the holidays.

Atoles date back to pre-Columbian times in Mexico and are well-documented as a form of sustenance amongst the Aztec and Mayan cultures. Historical texts tell us the drink was often flavored with fruits, spices or chiles.

Vanilla, strawberry and chocolate are the most common flavors of atole nowadays, but you can sometimes also find mora (blackberry; one of my favorites), nuez (pecan), pineapple, elote (sweet corn), piñon (pine nut), and many other flavors. In some areas of Mexico, you can even find savory atoles—one made with with green chile is called chileatole.

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¡Bienvenidos!

Hi, I'm Maura Hernández. Welcome to my kitchen! I'm an award-winning food and travel blogger, recipe developer, and journalist sharing my passion for all things Mexico. Married to a Chilango, I've traveled Mexico extensively for the last decade. On The Other Side of The Tortilla, you'll find a mix of traditional and modern Mexican cooking, along with my advice on where to eat, stay and play on your visit to Mexico! READ MORE ABOUT ME...

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